I've always used, a tucked blood to the hook for co-polymer and mono, and a grinner or uni on flurocarbon, for the cast itself I use a surgeons to create the tapers as this gives me a drop at every knot should I need it, they've never let me down yet and I've had some big fish on very light leaders, I took a 22lb spring salmon on a 4lb tippet a year gone last april, I was fishing for small brownies, when this thing just hooked itself and took off stripping all the line and 170 yards of backing, the rod I was using at the time was a 6# Hardy Angel, and it stopped the fish, but it still took 45mins to land it, but the knots held okay